Method and apparatus for traffic optimization in virtual private networks (vpns)

ABSTRACT

Method and apparatus for traffic optimization in virtual private networks (VPNs). A client device establishes a first VPN connection with a first server based on first VPN credentials. Traffic is transmitted and received through the first VPN connection to and from the first server. A second server is identified based on traffic optimization criteria that need to be satisfied by the VPN connection. Upon receipt of the identification of the second server the client device is to use the second server as a destination of a second VPN connection. The second VPN connection satisfies a set of traffic optimization goals for at least one flow from the flows forwarded through the first VPN connection. Based on the identification of the second server, the client device establishes the second VPN connection for the flow between the client device and the second server.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of Ser. No. 17/020,605, filed Sep.14, 2020, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.16/444,795, filed Jun. 18, 2019, (now U.S. Pat. No. 10,778,582 issuedSep. 15, 2020) which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.16/253,819 (now U.S. Pat. No. 10,374,953 issued Aug. 6, 2019), which arehereby incorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments of the invention relate to the field of network services;and more specifically to traffic optimization in virtual privatenetworks (VPNs).

BACKGROUND ART

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is an internet security service thatallows users to access the Internet as though they were connected to aprivate network. A VPN service allows a user to encrypt Internetcommunications and provide the user with a strong degree of anonymitywhen browsing the Internet. Users may use a VPN service to protectthemselves against eavesdropping that may occur on public Wi-Fi, tocircumvent Internet censorship, or to connect to a business's internalnetwork for the purpose of remote work.

Establishing a VPN tunnel between two network nodes involvesestablishing and maintaining a logical network connection (the logicalnetwork connection can be referred to as a VPN connection). The VPNconnection between two network nodes may contain intermediate hops. Inthe VPN connection, packets constructed in a given VPN protocol formatare encapsulated within another carrier protocol. The VPN packets arethen transmitted between VPN client and server and de-encapsulated onthe receiving end.

For Internet-based VPNs, packets in a VPN protocol are encapsulatedwithin Internet Protocol (IP) packets. VPN protocols also supportauthentication and encryption to keep the tunnels secure. Thus, a VPN isa network tunneled within another network (e.g., within the IP network).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention may best be understood by referring to the followingdescription and accompanying drawings that are used to illustrateembodiments of the invention. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary architecture forenabling traffic optimization in virtual private networks, in accordancewith some embodiments.

FIG. 2A illustrates a block diagram of detailed operations for initialconfiguration of the VPN, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 2B illustrates a block diagram of detailed operations forconfiguration of the VPN to optimize traffic in the VPN, in accordancewith some embodiments.

FIG. 3 illustrates a flow diagram of exemplary operations for trafficoptimization in virtual private networks, in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flow diagram of exemplary operations fordetermining a second server to be used as a VPN destination, inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary computer system thatcan be used for dynamically optimizing a script library in accordancewith some embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth.However, it is understood that embodiments of the invention may bepracticed without these specific details. In other instances, well-knowncircuits, structures and techniques have not been shown in detail inorder not to obscure the understanding of this description. Those ofordinary skill in the art, with the included descriptions, will be ableto implement appropriate functionality without undue experimentation.

References in the specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,”“an example embodiment,” etc., indicate that the embodiment describedmay include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, butevery embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature,structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarilyreferring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature,structure, or characteristic is described in connection with anembodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of oneskilled in the art to effect such feature, structure, or characteristicin connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitlydescribed. Throughout the following description similar referencenumerals have been used to denote similar elements such as components,features of a system and/or operations performed in a system or elementof the system, when applicable.

In the following description and claims, the terms “coupled” and“connected,” along with their derivatives, may be used. It should beunderstood that these terms are not intended as synonyms for each other.“Coupled” is used to indicate that two or more elements, which may ormay not be in direct physical or electrical contact with each other,co-operate or interact with each other. “Connected” is used to indicatethe establishment of communication between two or more elements that arecoupled with each other.

In one embodiment, a client device establishes a first VPN connectionwith a first server based on first VPN credentials. One or more flows oftraffic are transmitted and received through the first VPN connection toand from the first server. The service server determines anidentification of a second server. The second server is identified basedon one more traffic optimization criteria that need to be satisfied bythe VPN connection. The service server transmits the identification ofthe second server to the client device. The client device receives anidentification of the second server to be used as a destination of asecond VPN connection. The second VPN connection satisfies a set oftraffic optimization goals for at least one flow from the flowsforwarded through the first VPN connection. Based on the identificationof the second server, the client device establishes a second VPNconnection for the at least one flow from the flows between the clientdevice and the second server.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary architecture forenabling traffic optimization in virtual private networks, in accordancewith some embodiments. The architecture 100 includes a client device110, two or more servers 120A-N, one or more origin servers 130A-B, adomain owner 145 and a service server 125.

The client device 110 is a computing device (e.g., laptop, workstation,smartphone, palm top, mobile phone, tablets, gaming system, set-top box,etc.) that is capable of accessing network resources (e.g., they includesoftware such as client network applications (e.g., web browsers, mobileapplications, etc.) that are capable of accessing network resources). Insome embodiments, the client network applications are implemented basedon web application program interfaces (APIs) enabling the client deviceto request access to resources served by a server. The client device 110includes a VPN client 122 that is associated with a first VPN address.The VPN client 122 is operative to perform operations of a privatevirtual network protocol. Several VPN protocols can be used withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention. The client device 110is operative to establish one or more VPN connections with one or moreservers. The client device 110 is operative to transmit and receivetraffic to and from a server through a VPN connection based on VPNcredentials associated with the client device 110. The VPN credentialsidentify a VPN address of the client device 110 and cryptographiccredentials to allow for secure communication through the VPNconnection. The client device 110 is operative to transmit a request fora network resource that is served by the origin server 130A. In someembodiments, the client device 110 is operative to transmit the requestfor the network resource through the VPN connection(s). The VPNconnection can be referred to as a VPN tunnel. While a single clientdevice is illustrated, any number of client devices can be incommunication with each one of the servers 120A-N.

Each one of the servers 120A-N is a computing device coupled with one ormore client devices through a network (not illustrated). Each one of theservers 120A-N includes a respective VPN server 123A-N. Each one of theVPN server 123A-N is operative to perform operations of a privatevirtual network protocol. Several VPN protocols can be used withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention. Each one of theservers 120A-N is operative to establish one or more VPN connectionswith one or more client device. Each one of the servers 120A-N isoperative to establish a VPN connection with the client device 110. Eachone of the servers 120A-N is operative to transmit and receive trafficto and from a client device (e.g., client device 110) through a VPNconnection based on VPN credentials. The VPN credentials include a VPNaddress of the client device as well as cryptographic credentials of theclient device. The VPN credentials further include a VPN addressassociated with the server and cryptographic credentials associated withthe server. The cryptographic credentials of the server and the clientdevice allow for secure communication through the VPN connection. Thecryptographic credentials can include authentication credentials thatallow for authentication of the server and the client device. Thecryptographic credentials may further include encryption keys forencrypting traffic within the VPN tunnel between the client device andthe server.

Each one of the servers 120A-N enable client devices to access networkresources hosted on origin servers (e.g., 130A-B) through a VPNconnection. The VPN connections established between the client device110 and the server 120A enables the client device to obtain anonymityand secure communication when accessing network resources hosted orserved by the origin server 130A. Each one of the servers 120A-N is nottypically part of the local network of the origin servers 130A-B. Forexample, the first server 120A is outside of the local area network ofthe origin server 130A and is typically not physically accessible by theowner/administrator of the origin server 130A.

In some embodiments, each one of the servers 120A-N is a proxy serverthat is part of a cloud-based proxy service. The cloud-based proxyserver provides different services for customers (e.g., the domain owner145). For example, the first server 120A can be a first proxy serversituated between client devices (e.g., client device 110) and the originservers 130A-B. In one embodiment, each one of the proxy servers 120A-Nis a reverse proxy server. Certain network traffic is received andprocessed through the proxy servers. For example, web traffic (e.g.,HTTP requests/responses, HTTPS requests/responses, SPDYrequests/responses, etc.) for domains of the origin server 130A may bereceived and processed at the first server 120A. In one embodiment, thedomain owner 145 is a customer of the cloud-based proxy service. Theowner of the servers 120A-N is typically different than the owner of theorigin servers 130A-B.

By way of example, the cloud-based proxy service may provide servicesincluding protecting against Internet-based threats (e.g., proactivelystopping botnets, cleaning viruses, trojans, and worms, etc.), providingperformance services for customers (e.g., acting as a node in a contentdelivery network (CDN) and dynamically caching customer's files closerto visitors, page acceleration, content optimization services, etc.),TCP stack optimizations, and/or other services. In one embodiment, thecloud-based proxy service provides a mechanism for establishing VPNconnections between client devices and one or more proxy servers of theservice when the client devices attempt to access resources served bythe origin servers.

Generally speaking, each one of the servers 120A-N receives networktraffic from the client device 110 requesting Internet resources. Therequest for Internet resources is performed through a VPN connectionbased on the VPN credentials of each one of the client device and therespective server. For example, the first server 120A may receiverequests for an action to be performed on an identified resource (e.g.,an HTTP GET request, an HTTP POST request, other HTTP request methods,or other requests to be applied to an identified resource on an originserver) from the client device 110 through a first VPN connection. Therequest received from the client device 110 is destined for an originserver (e.g., origin server 130A).

Each one of the servers 120A-N analyzes incoming traffic and takes oneor more actions on the incoming traffic. For example, the servers 120A-Nmay cause the incoming traffic to be fulfilled. In some embodiments,each one of the servers 120A-N may transmit the outgoing traffic to theappropriate origin server 130A-B. For example, the first server 120A mayreceive a first request for a network resource through a first VPNconnection. The first request for the network resource may be encryptedas per the VPN protocol requirements. The first server 120A is operativeto decrypt the traffic received through the VPN protocol and obtain thefirst request for the network resource. The server 120A is operative tofulfil the request. For example, the server 120A may transmit a request(e.g., an HTTP GET request) for the network resource to the originserver 130A. The origin server 130A may transmit a response (e.g., anHTTP response) with the requested resource to the first server 120A. Thefirst server 120A may analyze the incoming traffic including theresponse and take one or more actions, including, for example,transmitting the response to the requesting client device 110. Theresponse may be transmitted through the first VPN connection establishedwith the client device 110. In some embodiments, the packetstransporting the response are encrypted based on the VPN credentialsassociated with the first VPN connection. In some embodiments, the firstserver 120A may also cache resources for the domains and respond torequests from client devices locally if the requested resource is incache.

In some embodiments, incoming traffic is received at a particular server120A as a result of a DNS request for a domain of one of the domainowners 145 resolving to an IP address of the server 120A. By way ofexample, DNS record(s) for the domain “example.com” may resolve to an IPaddress of a server 120A. In some embodiments, multiple domains that maybe owned by different domain owners may resolve to the same server 120A(e.g., the same IP address or a different IP address of the server120A). For example, the domain owner 145 owns one or more domains (e.g.,example.com) for which the first server 120A may receive requests. Thefirst server 120A may receive requests for the resources at a givenlocation of the domain (e.g., example.com/login).

Each one of the origin servers 130A-B is an electronic device thatserves network resources (e.g., web pages, images, word processingdocuments, PDF files movie files, music files, or other computer files).For example, each one of the origin server 130A-B may host one or moredomains of domain owners and is operative to respond to requests forresources at that domain. For example, the origin server 130A may host adomain (example.com) owned by domain owner 145. Each one of the originservers 130A-B may generate the network resources or alternatively maybe coupled with another server that generates the network resources.Although not illustrated in FIG. 1 and FIGS. 2A-B, it should beunderstood that the network resources of the origin servers may bestored separately from the device that responds to the requests.

In some embodiments, the domain owner 145 is a customer of a cloud-basedservice and registers their respective domain for the service. Forexample, the authoritative name servers for each domain of the domainowner 145 may be changed to the authoritative name server of theservice. It should be understood that the backup authoritative nameserver serving the domain may also be changed to an authoritative nameserver of the service. The zone file record for the domain is alsochanged such that DNS resolution requests for the domain owned by thedomain owner 145, which corresponds with the origin server 130A, resolveto the first server 120A. In one embodiment, a customer (e.g., thedomain owners 145 or other entity (e.g., web administrators) on behalfof the domain owner 145) may use the service server 125 to change theirauthoritative name server to the authoritative name server and changetheir zone file to have their domain point to the first server 120A. Insome embodiments, the domain owner 145 or an administrator of the domainmay perform these changes through a graphical interface.

The service server 125 is an electronic device operated by thecloud-based proxy service. The service server 125 includes a VPN trafficoptimizer 135. The VPN traffic optimizer 135 is operative to analyze thenetwork formed by the different servers 120A-N and determine optimizedroutes within the network formed by the servers 120A-N for VPNconnection between a client device and a server.

In some embodiments, the service server 125 may also provide a set oftools and interfaces for the domain owner 145 that are accessible overthe Internet. For example, the service server 125, among other things,allows the domain owner 145 to register for the cloud-based proxyservice, view statistics/logs of events, and report suspicious events.The service server 125 includes tools to assist the domain owner 145 inchanging their authoritative name servers and zone file record. Itshould be understood, however, that the domain owner 145 may changetheir authoritative name server and zone file without use of the serviceserver 125 (i.e., they may directly change the authoritative name serverand zone file). The service server 125 includes tools to assist thedomain owner 145 to select a set of services offered by the cloud-basedproxy service.

The architecture 100 may further include a DNS system that is notillustrated. The DNS system may include multiple DNS servers to resolveDNS requests. The DNS system includes an authoritative name server,which is an authoritative name server for the service. Thus, theauthoritative name server is the authoritative name server for thedomains corresponding to the origin servers 130A-B. Accordingly, whenthe DNS system resolves a request for a domain corresponding to theorigin server 130A or the origin server 130B, the authoritative nameserver provides the authoritative answer. It should be understood thatthe DNS system may include several DNS servers (e.g., preferred domainservers, top-level domain name servers, other domain servers). It shouldalso be understood that there may be multiple authoritative web serversfor the service and they may be geographically distributed. When thedomain owner 145 is a customer of the cloud-based proxy service, DNSresolution requests for the domain owned by the domain owner 145, whichcorresponds with the origin server 130A, resolve to an IP address of aproxy server that is part of the service (e.g., the first server 120A).When the domain owner 145 is not a customer of the cloud-based proxyservice, or alternatively the servers 120A-N are not part of acloud-based proxy service, DNS resolution requests for the domain ownedby the domain owner 145 resolve to an IP address of the origin server130A.

In some embodiments the cloud-proxy service has multiple proxy serversthat are geographically distributed. For example, in some embodiments,the service uses multiple point of presences (POPs). A POP is acollection of networking equipments (e.g., authoritative name serversand proxy servers) that are geographically distributed to decrease thedistance between requesting client devices and content. Theauthoritative name servers have the same anycast IP address and theproxy servers have the same anycast IP address. As a result, when a DNSrequest is made, the network transmits the DNS request to the closestauthoritative name server. That authoritative name server then respondswith a proxy server within that POP. Accordingly, a visitor will bebound to that proxy server until the next DNS resolution for therequested domain (according to the TTL (time to live) value as providedby the authoritative name server). In some embodiments, instead of usingan anycast mechanism, embodiments use a geographical load balancer toroute traffic to the nearest POP. While FIG. 1 illustrates two originservers 130A-B and a single client device 110 respectively coupled withthe first server 120A, in some embodiments each of the servers 120A-N iscoupled with multiple origin servers and/or with multiple clientdevices. Moreover, in some embodiments, there are multiple proxy serversproviding service for a particular domain.

In operation, the service server 125 transmits initial VPN routeconfigurations to the client device 110 at operation 1. In someembodiments, the client device 110A establishes, at operation 2, a firstVPN connection with the first server 120A based on first VPNcredentials. The first VPN credentials include cryptographic credentialsassociated with the client device 110A and the first server 120A toenable a secure communication through a VPN protocol between the clientdevice 110 and the first server 120A. The first VPN credentials furtherinclude a first VPN destination address. When the first VPN connectionis established, the first VPN destination address identifies the firstserver 120A. At operation 3, one or more flows of traffic aretransmitted and received through the first VPN connection to and fromthe first server 120A. In some embodiments, based on the initial VPNroute configuration, all traffic originating from the client device 110is transmitted through the first VPN connection towards the first server120A, which acts as a VPN server and the VPN destination of the firstVPN connection. The first server 120A de-encapsulate the trafficreceived through the first VPN connection and transmits the traffic tothe original destination (e.g., the origin server 130A) at operation 4.

At operation 5, the service server 125 determines an identification of asecond server 120B. The second server 120B is identified based on onemore traffic optimization criteria that need to be satisfied by the VPNconnection. At operation 6, the service server 125 transmits theidentification of the second server 120B to the client device 110 toupdate the VPN route for traffic to the first origin server 130A. Theclient device 110 receives an identification of the second server 120Bto be used as a destination of a second VPN connection. The second VPNconnection satisfies a set of traffic optimization goals for at leastone flow from the flows forwarded through the first VPN connection.

Based on the identification of the second server 120B, the client deviceestablishes, at operation 7, a second VPN connection for at least oneflow from the flows between the client device and the second serverbased on the second VPN credentials. The second VPN credentials includecryptographic credentials that enable the second server 120B and theclient device 110 to communicate securely through the VPN protocol. TheVPN credentials further include the VPN address of the client device 110and the VPN destination address of the second server 120B. Uponestablishment of the second VPN connection, the client device 110forwards, at operation 8, at least one flow through the second VPNconnection to the second server 120B. In some embodiments, all trafficthat was previously forwarded through the first VPN connection is routedthrough the second VPN connection. In other embodiments, only a portionof the traffic is routed through the second VPN connection towards thesecond server 120B while another portion of the traffic continues to berouted through the first VPN connection towards the first server 120A.For example, the first server 120A can be coupled with the two originservers 130A and 130B and traffic between the client device 110 towardsand from each one of these origin servers is forwarded through the firstVPN connection in the initial phase. In this example, the second VPNconnection can be established for traffic that is destined to a firstdomain which is served by the first origin server 130A and trafficdestined to a second domain served by the second origin server 130B canbe forwarded through the first VPN connection.

The two VPN connections can be used successively such that a firstconnection is first established to forward all traffic destined to oneor more origin servers and then the second connection is established toforward all of this same traffic without the first connection beingused. Alternatively, the two VPN connections can be used concurrentlysuch that part of the traffic is forwarded through the first VPNconnection and another part of the traffic is forwarded through thesecond VPN connection.

Upon receipt of the traffic from the client device 110, the secondserver 120A forwards traffic to the origin servers. For example, thesecond server 120A transmits traffic to the origin server 130A. In someembodiments, the traffic can be forwarded towards the origin server 130Athrough the first server 120A, operation 9 a. A VPN connection can beestablished between the first server 120A and the second server 120Bsuch that traffic received through the second VPN connection istransmitted via this VPN connection between the servers 120A and 120B.The server 120A then forwards, at operation 10 a, the traffic to theorigin server 130A. This allows for continuous forwarding of trafficto/from the origin server 130A and the client device 110 withoutinterruption even when the VPN connection originating from the clientdevice 110 was rerouted towards a second server 120B. Alternatively, thetraffic can be forwarded towards the origin server 130A without goingthrough the first server 120A, at operation 9 b. For example, for newtraffic originating from the client device 110 which was not previouslyrouted through the first VPN connection, this traffic is transmittedthrough the second VPN connection and towards the first origin server130A (without going through the first server 120A).

FIG. 2A illustrates a block diagram of detailed operations for initialconfiguration of the VPN, in accordance with some embodiments. Each oneof the devices (e.g., client device, first server 120A, second server120B, origin server 130A, and origin server 130B) is a network devicethat has an associated IP address (e.g., IP address 111, IP address121A, IP address 121B, IP address 131A, and IP address 131B). The IPaddresses of each device (110, 120A-B, 130A-B) allows the device tocommunicate through the IP protocol with the other devices (110, 120A-B,130A-B) in the network. The IP address is an Internet-addressableaddresses. Each one of the devices (110, 120A-B, 130A-B) may be coupledto another one of the devices (110, 120A-B, 130A-B) via one or morenetwork devices that are not illustrated. Further, to enable the VPNcommunication the client device 110 includes a VPN routing table 112.The VPN routing table includes VPN entries that define VPN routes in thenetwork. Each VPN route has a destination IP address and a correspondingVPN destination address (VPN Dest. Add.). The client device 110 furtherincludes an encapsulator 113 that includes for each VPN route arespective IP encapsulation destination address. The IP encapsulationdestination address identifies the IP address that is to be used as adestination for encapsulating the VPN traffic addressed to a particularVPN destination address.

In an initial set up the client device 110 is configured to include afirst entry (1 a) and a second entry (1 b) in the VPN routing table 112and for VPN destination 125A an associated encapsulation IP address121A. In this initial set up the routing table 112 includes a firstentry 1 a such that traffic destined to IP address 131A of the originserver 130A is routed through a VPN route with VPN destination 125A. Therouting table 112 further includes a second entry 1 b such that trafficdestined to IP address 131B of the origin server 130B is also routedthrough the same VPN route with VPN destination 125A. The client device110 is configured such that a first VPN connection can be establishedbetween the client device 110 with a source VPN address 126 (VPN Src.Add.) and the first VPN destination address 125A. According to 1 c, thefirst VPN destination address 125A is associated with the firstdestination IP address 121A of the first server 120A. Thus, when theclient device 110A establishes, at operation 3, a first VPN connectionwith the first server 120A that is done based on the entry (1 c) withthe VPN destination address 125A and the IP address 121A of the firstserver 120A. The traffic transmitted through the VPN connection isencapsulated within IP packets with destination IP address 131A or 131B.The first VPN connection is established based on the cryptographiccredentials associated with the first client device 110 and the firstVPN server 120A. The cryptographic credentials associated with theclient device 110A and the first server 120A enable a securecommunication through a VPN protocol between the client device 110 andthe first server 120A. In some embodiments, the cryptographiccredentials include cryptographic keys of the client device 110 and thefirst server 120A that are exchanged during the establishment of thefirst VPN connection.

In some embodiments, the first VPN connection is established forforwarding a set one or more flows. A flow may include IP packets of arequest for network resources at a first domain. The packets received atthe client device 110 through the first VPN connection may include therequested network resources. The first domain is served by the originserver 130A. In some embodiments, traffic including requests andresponses of more than one domain can be forwarded through the first VPNconnection. For example, the client device can transmit requests fornetwork resources at two or more domains. The domains can be served bydifferent origin servers (e.g., first domain served by origin server130A and second domain served by origin server 130B). Alternatively, thedomains can be served by the same origin server.

In some embodiments, the origin server 130A is a customer of acloud-based proxy server and a DNS request for the domain served by theorigin server 130A resolves to an IP address of the proxy server 120Ainstead of an IP address of the origin server 130A. In theseembodiments, the routing table 112 may include, instead of the IPaddress 131A of the origin server 130A, an IP address 121A of the proxyserver 120A as the destination IP address. In these embodiments, thedestination IP address is associated with a VPN route (with destinationVPN 125A). The destination VPN address 125A is then associated with anencapsulation destination IP address 121A, which is the IP address ofthe first server 120A. The requests for and the responses of the networkresources are transmitted to the origin servers through the proxy serverand the VPN connection is established between the client device (e.g.,client device 110) and the proxy server (e.g., first server 120A) thatis coupled with the origin server serving the network resources. Thus,in these embodiments, the first server 120A acts as a VPN server as wellas a proxy server of the cloud-based proxy service. In theseembodiments, when the VPN traffic is received at the first server 120A,a higher-level protocol (e.g., HTTP, HTTPS) can be used to identify thedestination of the packets. For example, packets received at the firstserver 120A through the VPN connection are processed at the first server120A to determine an HTTP request for network resources at a firstdomain served by the origin server 130A. The request can be fulfilled bythe first server 120A by either transmitting the request to the originserver 130A (e.g., processing the request and transmitting IP packetsincluding the request towards the origin server 130A) or by retrievingnetwork resources previously stored in a cache for that domain.

FIG. 2B illustrates a block diagram of detailed operations forconfiguration of the VPN to optimize traffic in the VPN, in accordancewith some embodiments. At operation 5, the service server 125 determinesan identification of a second server 120B. The VPN traffic optimizer 135determines a second server 120B from a set of servers that is to be usedas a destination of a second VPN connection for the client device 110 toobtain network resources of one or more domains. The second server 120Bis identified based on one more traffic optimization criteria that needto be satisfied by a VPN connection between the client device and a VPNserver. The VPN traffic optimizer 135 collects network intelligencemetrics from requests that are fulfilled by different servers. In someembodiments, when the servers are proxy servers of a cloud-based proxyservice 120A-N, the network intelligence metrics relates to requestsfulfilled by the proxy servers on behalf of the origin servers.

The VPN traffic optimizer 135 determines, based on the collected networkintelligence metrics, an optimized route for a VPN connectionoriginating from the client device 110. The optimized route identifies anew server that is to be used as a destination of the VPN connectioninstead of the first server 120A, where the optimized route satisfiesthe traffic optimization criteria. The collected metrics can be obtainedbased on active or passive monitoring of remote destinations (e.g.,proxy servers, and/or origin servers) to measure latency, packet loss,congestion or other network metrics. In some embodiments, thedetermination of the server is further performed based on properties ofthe network such as cost, reliability, current or predicted utilization.The determination of the optimized route can be performed to satisfy oneor multiple optimization criteria, including ensuring low latencyresponses between the client device and the origin server hosting therequested network resource, high reliability of the traffic between theclient device and the origin server and/or the proxy server, low cost ofthe VPN connection established for the client device, and/or quality ofthe VPN service.

In some embodiments, the traffic optimization criteria can be determinedbased on the characteristics of the VPN protocol that is used toestablish the VPN connections. For example, the optimization criteriacan be set based on characteristics of the protocol such as whether aprotocol is latency-sensitive or insensitive, has high or low bandwidthrequirements, or how tolerant the specific protocol is to packet loss.The optimized route is determined based at least in part on thecharacteristics of the protocol.

In some embodiments, the traffic optimization is performed for trafficof a given domain such that the second server is to be used as adestination of a second VPN connection that is to be used to forwardtraffic of the given domain. In other embodiments, the trafficoptimization is performed for traffic of multiple domains (e.g., asubset of all domains of network resources that are requested at theclient device 110, or all domains of network resources requested at theclient device 110) and the second VPN connection is to be used forforwarding traffic of the multiple domains.

At operation 6 a, the service server 125 transmits an update of the VPNroutes, to the client device 110. For example, the service server 125transmits the identification of the second server 120B to the clientdevice 110. The client device 110 receives an identification of thesecond server 120B to be used as a destination of the second VPNconnection. The identification of the second server 120B includes an IPaddress of the second server 120B. The request to update the VPN routeat 6 a may further indicate which flows are to be forwarded through thenew VPN route. The service server 125 may identify a flow based on itsdestination IP address and/or source IP address, based on a domain name,or other types of flow identification. For example, the service server125 may transmit the source IP address of the client device with the newVPN route identification to indicate that all flows originating from theclient device are to be transmitted through the new VPN connection.Alternatively, the service server 125 may transmit a set of one or moredestination IP addresses with the identification of the new VPN routeindicating that all flows destined to these destinations are to berouted through the new VPN route. In another example, the service server125 may transmit a domain name (e.g., first domain) that is served bythe origin server 130A. The flows identified may be flows that werepreviously transmitted/received by the client device or alternativelynew flows that are to be transmitted/received by the client device.

The second VPN connection satisfies a set of traffic optimization goalsfor at least one flow from the flows forwarded through the first VPNconnection. The VPN traffic optimizer 135 causes configuration of theclient device's VPN routing table 112 to route traffic to certaindestinations via the selected second server that is determined by theVPN traffic optimizer 135. For example, at operation 6 a, the routingtable 112 is updated to include entry 6 c such that traffic destined toIP address 131A of the origin server 130A is routed through a VPN routewith VPN destination 125B. The routing table 112 further includes asecond entry 1 b such that traffic destined to IP address 131B of theorigin server 130B is routed through another VPN route with VPNdestination 125A. The entry 1 b is not updated as no indication isreceived from the service server 125 to update the VPN route for thistraffic. The traffic optimizer 135 identifies (in 6 d) the IP address121B of second server 123B as the encapsulation destination IP addressfor the VPN destination address 125B.

In the embodiments where the origin server 130A is a customer of acloud-based proxy server, the routing table 112 is updated to include aVPN route (VPN destination 125B) for the IP address of the proxy server120A as the destination IP address (instead of the IP address of theorigin server 131A as illustrated in FIG. 2B). The destination VPNaddress 125B is then associated with an encapsulation destination IPaddress 121B, which is the IP address of the second server 120B. Inthese embodiments, while the second server 120B is updated to be the VPNserver (destination of the second VPN connection) for the flows, thefirst server 120A may remain the proxy server of the cloud-based servicethat is the actual destination of the flows as opposed to the originserver 130A.

While the illustrated example shows that only one entry in the VPNrouting table is updated, in other examples, multiple flows or all flowsthat are tunneled through the first VPN connection are updated to berouted through the second VPN connection. In these alternative examples,multiple or all entries of the routing table 112 are updated with theVPN destination address 125B instead of VPN destination address 125A. Insome embodiments, the VPN routing table 112 may also be configured on aper-protocol level, either by routing based on both port and VPN IPaddress, by packet inspection, or any other mechanism available to VPNclient 122 to detect and determine a protocol.

Based on the identification of the second server 120B, the client deviceestablishes a second VPN connection for at least one flow from the flowsbetween the client device and the second server based on second VPNcredentials. The second VPN credentials include cryptographiccredentials that enable the second server 120B and the client device 110to communicate securely through the VPN protocol. The second VPNcredentials further include the VPN source address of the client device110 and the second VPN destination address of the second server 120B.Upon establishment of the second VPN connection, the client device 110forwards at least one flow through the second VPN connection to thesecond server 120B. In some embodiments, all traffic that was previouslyforwarded through the first VPN connection is routed through the secondVPN connection. In other embodiments, only a portion of the traffic isrouted through the second server 120B. For example, the first server120A can be coupled with the two origin servers 130A and 130B andtraffic between the client device 110 towards and from each one of theseorigin servers is forwarded through the first VPN connection. In thisexample, the second VPN connection can be established for traffic thatis destined to a first domain which is served by the first origin server130A while traffic destined to a second domain served by the secondorigin server 130B continues to be forwarded through the first VPNconnection.

These two VPN connections can be used successively such that a firstconnection is first established to forward all traffic destined to oneor more origin servers and then the second connection is established toforward all of the traffic without the first connection being used.Alternatively, the two VPN connections can be used concurrently suchthat some traffic is routed through the first VPN connection and othertraffic is routed through the second VPN connection.

The VPN traffic optimizer 135 is further operative to configure thesecond server 120B, at operation 6 b. At operation 6 b, the VPN trafficoptimizer 135 transmits an identification of the first server 120A to beused as a destination VPN address to be used for forwarding trafficdestined to the origin server 130A. The traffic optimizer 135 causes theVPN routing table 114B to be updated to include an entry 6 e. The entry6 e includes the destination IP address 131A of the origin server 130Aand a route for the traffic destined to the IP address 131A. In oneembodiment, the route is a VPN route towards VPN address 125A. The entry6 e is used for forwarding traffic that is received from the source VPNaddress 126 (VPN address of the client device) that is destined to theorigin server 131A towards the first server 120A via a third VPNconnection. While this embodiment describes a VPN connection between thefirst server 121A and the second server 121B, in other embodiments, theconnection between these servers is not a VPN connection. In someembodiments, the operation 6 b may be performed to forward traffictowards the first server 120A when the first server 120A is a proxyserver from the cloud-based service that is to receive traffic on behalfof an origin server 130A. In other embodiments, the second server 121Bis updated such that it is identified as the proxy server that is toreceive traffic on behalf of the first origin server 130A instead of thefirst server 120A. This may be done by updating DNS records (not shown)such that a DNS request for the first domain resolves to an IP addressof the second server 120B instead of the IP address of the first server120A or the IP address of the origin server 130A.

In some embodiments, the VPN traffic optimizer 135 is further operativeto configure the first server 120A, at operation 6 g. In someembodiments, the VPN traffic optimizer 135 may perform operation 6 g,while in other embodiments, this operation can be skipped as the server121A is already configured to forward traffic towards the origin server130A. At operation 6 g, the VPN traffic optimizer 135 configures thefirst server 120A to forward traffic received from the second server120B and destined to the first origin server 130A towards the originserver 130A. For example, when the connection between the first server120A and the second server 120B is a VPN connection, the trafficoptimizer 135 causes the VPN traffic received through the third VPNconnection to be de-encapsulated and forwarded towards the origin server131A.

In one embodiment, the flows received from the client device 110 throughthe second VPN connection are transmitted from the second server 120B tothe first server 120A, at operation 9 a. Once received at the firstserver 120A, the flows are forwarded towards the first origin server(operation 10 a). Alternatively, the flows can be forwarded directlytowards the origin server 130A without going through the first server120A. For example, this may occur when the traffic is new traffic whichwas not previously forwarded through the first VPN connection. This mayalso occur, when the second server 120B is identified as a proxy serverof the cloud-based service that is to receive traffic on behalf of theorigin server 130A.

In the embodiments where the first server 120A remains the proxy serverand the second server 120A acts as the VPN server, the requests for andthe responses of the network resources are transmitted to the originservers through the proxy server 120A and via the second VPN connection(7). In these embodiments a third connection (e.g., VPN connection) isestablished between the second server 120B and the first server 120A. Inthese embodiments, when the VPN traffic is received at the second server120B it is de-encapsulated and forwarded towards the first server 120A(through the third VPN connection or other connection). When the trafficis received at the first server 121A, a higher-level protocol (e.g.,HTTP, HTTPS) can be used to identify the destination of the packets. Forexample, an HTTP request for network resources at a first domain servedby the origin server 130A can be determined from the packets received.The request can be fulfilled by the first server 120A by eithertransmitting the request to the origin server 130A or by retrievingnetwork resources from a cache.

In the embodiments where the second server 120B is updated to act as theproxy server instead of the first server 120A, when the VPN traffic isreceived at the second server 120B it is de-encapsulated and ahigher-level protocol (e.g., HTTP, HTTPS) can be used to identify thedestination of the packets. For example, an HTTP request for networkresources at a first domain served by the origin server 130A can bedetermined from the received packets. The request can be fulfilled bythe second server 120B by either transmitting the request to the originserver 130A or by retrieving network resources from a cache.

The configuration of each one of the client device 110 and the secondserver 120B can be performed by the service server 125 transmitting theroute information via a direct communication link (e.g., through an IPprotocol, or other communication protocols that can be used forconfiguration of the network devices) or alternatively through messagestunneled through the first VPN connection.

The embodiments of the present invention enable the dynamic routing ofVPN traffic from a client device towards one or more servers through oneor more VPN connections. The multiple VPN connections can be establishedsimultaneously or successively to transmit a portion of all of trafficthat is originating from the client device. In some embodiments, the VPNconnections are established between the client device and one or moreproxy servers of a cloud-based proxy service when the client device isrequesting network resources served by origin servers that are coupledwith the proxy servers. The routing is dynamically updated to optimizethe VPN route that are established based one or more optimizationcriteria.

The operations in the flow diagrams below will be described withreference to the exemplary embodiments of the FIGS. 1-2B. However, itshould be understood that the operations of the flow diagrams can beperformed by embodiments of the invention other than those discussedwith reference to the other figures, and the embodiments of theinvention discussed with reference to FIGS. 1-2B can perform operationsdifferent than those discussed with reference to the flow diagrams.

FIG. 3 illustrates a flow diagram of exemplary operations for trafficoptimization in virtual private networks, in accordance with someembodiments. At operation 302, the client device 110A establishes afirst VPN connection with the first server 120A based on first VPNcredentials. The client device is associated with a source VPN addressand the first server is associated with a destination VPN address. Thefirst VPN credentials include cryptographic credentials associated withthe client device 110A and the first server 120A to enable a securecommunication through a VPN protocol between the client device 110 andthe first server 120A. The first VPN credentials may further include thefirst VPN destination address. When the first VPN connection isestablished, the first VPN destination address identifies the firstserver 120A as the destination of the first VPN connection. The firstVPN destination can be associated with a first encapsulation IP addressfor encapsulating the VPN traffic. The first encapsulation IP addresscan be the IP address of the first server 120A or alternatively the IPaddress of the origin server 130A. The IP address of the first server120A can be used as the first encapsulation IP address when the firstserver 120A is a proxy server of a cloud-based proxy service and DNSrequests for a domain at the origin server resolve to the IP address ofthe proxy server instead of the origin server.

At operation 304, one or more flows of traffic are forwarded(transmitted and received) through the first VPN connection to and fromthe first server 120A. In some embodiments, the first VPN connection isestablished for forwarding a set one or more flows. A flow may includepackets of requests for network resources at a first domain or packetsof responses including the network resources at the first domain. Thefirst domain is served by the origin server 130A. In some embodiments,traffic including requests and responses of more than one domain can beforwarded through the first VPN connection. For example, the clientdevice can transmit requests for network resources at two or moredomains. The domains can be served by different origin servers (e.g.,first domain served by origin server 130A and second domain served byorigin server 130B). Alternatively, the domains can be served by thesame origin server. In some embodiments, the requests for and theresponses of the network resources are transmitted to the origin serversthrough a proxy server and the VPN connection is established between theclient device (e.g., client device 110) and the proxy server (e.g.,first server 120A) that is coupled with the origin server serving thenetwork resources. In some embodiments, wherein forwarding the one ormore flows of traffic through the first VPN connection includesoperations 305 and 307. At operations 305, a first request for a networkresource at a domain served by a first origin server that is coupledwith the first proxy server, is transmitted. At operation 307, aresponse including the network resource is received from the originserver and through the first proxy server and the first VPN connection.

The client device 110 receives, at operation 306, an identification ofthe second server 120B to be used as a destination of a second VPNconnection. The identification of a second server 120B is received froma service server (e.g., service server 125). The second server 120B isidentified based on one more traffic optimization criteria that need tobe satisfied by the VPN connection.

In some embodiments, the traffic optimization criteria include at leastone of obtaining low latency for requests for the at least one flow,obtaining high reliability of traffic forwarded through the second VPNconnection, ensuring a low cost of the second VPN connection, andensuring a good quality of service for the second VPN connection. Insome embodiments, the traffic optimization criteria can be determinedbased on the characteristics of the protocol of the packets/traffic sentthrough the VPN connections. For example, the optimization criteria canbe set based on characteristics of the protocol such as whether aprotocol is latency-sensitive or insensitive, has high or low bandwidthrequirements, or how tolerant the specific protocol is to packet loss.The optimized route based at least in part on the characteristics of theprotocol.

The VPN traffic optimizer 135 causes configuration of the clientdevice's VPN routing table 112 to route traffic to certain destinationsvia the selected second server that is determined by the VPN trafficoptimizer 135. At operation 308, the VPN routing table 112 is updated todefine the second VPN connection from the client device 110 to thesecond server 120B for forwarding the at least one flow from the flows.The second VPN connection is to be performed based on second VPNcredentials and the second server is associated with a second VPNaddress.

For example, the service server 125 transmits an update of the VPNroutes to the client device 110. The client device 110 receives anidentification of the second server 120B to be used as a destination ofthe second VPN connection. The identification of the second server 120Bincludes an IP address of the second server 120B. The update the VPNroute may further indicate which flows are to be forwarded through thenew VPN route. The service server 125 may identify a flow based on itsdestination IP address and/or source IP address, based on a domain name,or other types of flow identification. For example, the service server125 may transmit the source IP address of the client device 110 with thenew VPN route identification to indicate that all flows originating fromthe client device 100 are to be transmitted through the new VPNconnection. Alternatively, client device 110 may receive a set of one ormore destination IP addresses with the identification of the new VPNroute indicating that all flows destined to these destinations are to berouted through the new VPN route. In another example, the client device110 may receive one or more domain names (e.g., first domain) that areserved by origin servers (e.g., origin server 130A). The flowsidentified may be flows that were previously transmitted/received by theclient device 110 or alternatively new flows that are to betransmitted/received by the client device 110.

The VPN traffic optimizer 135 causes configuration of the clientdevice's VPN routing table 112 to route traffic to certain destinationsvia the selected second server. For example, the routing table 112 ofthe client device 110 is updated to include an entry (e.g., entry 6 c)such that traffic destined to IP address 131A of the origin server 130Ahosting a first domain is routed through a VPN route with a second VPNdestination (e.g., VPN destination 125B). The traffic optimizer 135identifies the IP address 121B of second server 123B as theencapsulation destination IP address for the VPN destination address125B and the client device is updated to include the encapsulationdestination IP address 121B for the second VPN destination.

In the embodiments where the origin server 130A is a customer of acloud-based proxy server, the routing table 112 of the client device 110is updated to include a VPN route (VPN destination 125B) for the IPaddress of the proxy server 120A as the destination IP address (insteadof the IP address of the origin server 131A as illustrated in FIG. 2B).The destination VPN address 125B is then associated with anencapsulation destination IP address 121B, which is the IP address ofthe second server 120B. In these embodiments, while the second server120B is updated to be the VPN server (destination of the second VPNconnection) for the flows, the first server 120A may remain the proxyserver of the cloud-based service that is the actual destination of theflows as opposed to the origin server 130A.

While the illustrated example of FIG. 2B shows that only one entry inthe VPN routing table is updated, in other examples, multiple flows orall flows that are tunneled through the first VPN connection are updatedto be routed through the second VPN connection. In these alternativeexamples, multiple or all entries of the routing table 112 are updatedwith the VPN destination address 125B instead of VPN destination address125A. In some embodiments, the VPN routing table 112 may also beconfigured on a per-protocol level, either by routing based on both portand VPN IP address, by packet inspection, or any other mechanismavailable to VPN client 122 to detect and determine a protocol.

In some embodiments, when not all traffic from the client device 110 isto be routed through the second VPN connection, one or more additionalentries can be present in the VPN routing table 112 for one or moreflows. These additional entries can for example define the first VPNconnection as a tunnel for forwarding traffic and potentially additionalVPN connections to one or more other flows of traffic (not illustrated).

Based on the identification of the second server 120B, the client deviceestablishes, at operation 310, a second VPN connection for the at leastone flow from the flows between the client device and the second serverbased on the second VPN credentials. The second VPN credentials includecryptographic credentials that enable the second server 120B and theclient device 110 to communicate securely through the VPN protocol. TheVPN credentials further include the VPN source address of the clientdevice 110 and the VPN destination address.

Upon establishment of the second VPN connection, the client device 110forwards, at operation 312, at least one flow through the second VPNconnection to the second server 120B. In some embodiments, all trafficthat was previously forwarded through the first VPN connection is routedthrough the second VPN connection. In other embodiments, only a portionof the traffic is routed through the second server 120B. For example,the first server 120A can be coupled with the two origin servers 130Aand 130B and traffic between the client device 110 towards and from eachone of these origin servers is first forwarded through the first VPNconnection. The second VPN connection can be established for trafficthat is destined to a first domain which is served by the first originserver 130A and traffic destined to a second domain served by the secondorigin server 130B can be forwarded through the first VPN connection.Alternatively, the second VPN connection can be established for trafficthat is destined to the first domain and for traffic that is destined tothe second domain.

In some embodiments, forwarding the at least one flow through the secondVPN connection to the second server based on the first VPN credentialsassociated with the VPN client includes operations 309 and 311. Atoperation 309, a second request for the network resource at the domainis transmitted. At operation 311, a second response including thenetwork resource is received from the origin server and the second proxyserver. In some embodiments, when the first server is a proxy server ofthe cloud-based proxy service that is operative to receive traffic onbehalf of the origin server, the second response including the networkresource can be received via the first server and the second server.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flow diagram of exemplary operations fordetermining a second server to be used as a VPN destination, inaccordance with some embodiments. The operations of FIG. 4 are typicallyperformed by a service server 125. The VPN traffic optimizer 135determines a second server 120B from a set of servers that is to be usedas a destination of the VPN connection for the client device 110 toobtain network resources of one or more domain. The second server 120Bis identified based on one more traffic optimization criteria that needto be satisfied by the VPN connection.

At operation 402, the VPN traffic optimizer 135 collects networkintelligence metrics from requests that are fulfilled by multipleservers that from a set of servers that can be used as VPN servers. Forexample, the set of servers can be proxy servers of a cloud-based proxyservice. At operation 404, the VPN traffic optimizer 135 determinesbased on the collected network intelligence metrics an optimized routefor the VPN connection that identifies the server that is to be used asa destination of the VPN connection. The optimized route satisfies thetraffic optimization criteria. The collected metrics can be performedbased on (operation 403) active or passive monitoring of remotedestinations (e.g., proxy servers, and/or origin servers) to measurelatency, packet loss, congestion or other network metrics. In someembodiments, the determination of the server is (operation 405) furtherperformed based on properties of the network such as cost, reliability,current or predicted utilization. The determination of the optimizedroute can be performed to satisfy one or multiple optimization criteria,including ensuring low latency responses between the client device andthe origin server hosting the requested network resource, highreliability of the traffic between the client device and the originserver and/or the proxy server, low cost of the VPN connectionestablished for the client device, and/or quality of service.

In some embodiments, the traffic optimization criteria can be determinedbased on the characteristics of the protocol of the packets/traffic sentthrough the VPN connections. For example, the optimization criteria canbe set based on characteristics of the protocol such as whether aprotocol is latency-sensitive or insensitive, has high or low bandwidthrequirements, or how tolerant the specific protocol is to packet loss.The optimized route is based at least in part on the characteristics ofthe protocol.

In some embodiments, the traffic optimization is performed for trafficof a given domain such that the second server is to be used as adestination of a second VPN connection that is to be used to forwardtraffic of the given domain. In other embodiments, the trafficoptimization is performed for traffic of multiple domains (e.g., asubset of all domains of network resources that are requested at theclient device 110, or all domains of network resources requested at theclient device 110) and the second VPN connection is to be used forforwarding traffic of the multiple domains.

The service server 125 transmits, at operation 406, the identificationof the second server 120B to the client device 110 causing the update ofthe VPN routing table to include a second route for a second VPNconnection for at least one flow from the flows between the clientdevice and the second server based on the first VPN credentials. Theclient device 110 receives an identification of the second server 120Bto be used as a destination of the second VPN connection. The second VPNconnection satisfies a set of traffic optimization goals for at leastone flow from the flows forwarded through the first VPN connection. TheVPN traffic optimizer 135 causes configuration of the client device'sVPN routing table 112 to route traffic to certain destinations via theselected second server. For example, at operation 3 a, the trafficoptimizer 135 identifies the IP address 121B of second server 123A andVPN destination address 125A. The traffic to a given destination isidentified based on a flow identifier. The flow identifier can be adestination IP address, a source address, or a domain name. In someembodiments, all flows that are tunneled through the first VPNconnection are updated to be routed through the second VPN connectionand there is no need to specify the flow for which the second server isintended to be used as a VPN destination.

The embodiments of the present invention enable the dynamic routing ofVPN traffic from a client device towards one or more servers through oneor more VPN connections. The multiple VPN connections can be establishedsimultaneously or successively to transmit a portion of all of trafficthat is originating from the client device. In some embodiments, the VPNconnections are established between the client device and one or moreproxy servers of a cloud-based proxy service when the client device isrequesting network resources served by origin servers that are coupledwith the proxy servers. The routing is dynamically updated to optimizethe VPN route that are established based one or more optimizationcriteria.

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary computer system thatcan be used for traffic optimization in virtual private networks (VPNs),in accordance with some embodiments. The computer system 500, which isan electronic device, includes the bus(es) 550 which is coupled with theprocessing system 520, power supply 525, memory 530, and the nonvolatilememory 540 (e.g., a hard drive, flash memory, Phase-Change Memory (PCM),etc.). The bus(es) 550 may be connected to each other through variousbridges, controllers, and/or adapters as is well known in the art. Theprocessing system 520 may retrieve instruction(s) from the memory 530and/or the nonvolatile memory 540 and execute the instructions toperform operations described herein. The bus 650 interconnects the abovecomponents together and also interconnects those components to thedisplay controller & display device 570, Input/Output devices 580 (e.g.,NIC (Network Interface Card), a cursor control (e.g., mouse,touchscreen, touchpad, etc.), a keyboard, etc.), and the optionalwireless transceiver(s) 590 (e.g., Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Infrared, etc.). Inone embodiment, the client device 110, the first server 120A, the secondserver 120B, the service server 125, and/or the origin servers 130A-Bcan take the form of the computer system 500 and perform the operationsdescribed with reference to FIGS. 1-4.

The techniques shown in the figures can be implemented using code anddata stored and executed on one or more electronic devices (e.g., aclient device, a proxy server, an origin server, a service server). Suchelectronic devices store and communicate (internally and/or with otherelectronic devices over a network) code and data using computer-readablemedia, such as non-transitory computer-readable storage media (e.g.,magnetic disks; optical disks; random access memory; read only memory;flash memory devices; phase-change memory) and transitorycomputer-readable communication media (e.g., electrical, optical,acoustical or other form of propagated signals—such as carrier waves,infrared signals, digital signals). In addition, such electronic devicestypically include a set of one or more processors coupled to one or moreother components, such as one or more storage devices (non-transitorymachine-readable storage media), user input/output devices (e.g., akeyboard, a touchscreen, and/or a display), and network connections. Thecoupling of the set of processors and other components is typicallythrough one or more busses and bridges (also termed as bus controllers).Thus, the storage device of a given electronic device typically storescode and/or data for execution on the set of one or more processors ofthat electronic device. Of course, one or more parts of an embodiment ofthe invention may be implemented using different combinations ofsoftware, firmware, and/or hardware.

While the flow diagrams in the figures show a particular order ofoperations performed by certain embodiments of the invention, it shouldbe understood that such order is exemplary (e.g., alternativeembodiments may perform the operations in a different order, combinecertain operations, overlap certain operations, etc.).

While the invention has been described in terms of several embodiments,those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention is notlimited to the embodiments described, can be practiced with modificationand alteration within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Thedescription is thus to be regarded as illustrative instead of limiting.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: transmitting a first virtual private network (VPN) route configuration to a client device, the first VPN route configuration specifying a first VPN route to a first proxy server of a plurality of proxy servers of a cloud-based proxy service for establishing a first VPN connection between the client device and the first proxy server; collecting network intelligence metrics from requests that are fulfilled by the plurality of proxy servers; determining a second VPN route configuration based on the collected network intelligence metrics, wherein the second VPN route configuration specifies a second VPN route to a second proxy server of the plurality of proxy servers, wherein the second VPN route is an optimized VPN route as compared to the first VPN route; and transmitting the second VPN route configuration to the client device for establishing a second VPN connection between the client device and the second proxy server.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting the network intelligence metrics includes active or passive monitoring of remote destinations including the plurality of proxy servers and a plurality of origin servers to measure latency, packet loss, and/or congestion.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the second VPN route configuration is further based on one or more network properties including cost, reliability, current utilization, and/or predicted utilization.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the second VPN route is determined based at least in part on one or more characteristics of a VPN protocol that is used to establish the second VPN connection.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the second VPN route satisfies traffic optimization criteria for at least one traffic flow forwarded through the second VPN connection.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the traffic optimization criteria includes at least one of obtaining low latency for requests of the at least one traffic flow, obtaining high reliability of traffic forwarded through the second VPN connection, ensuring a low cost of the second VPN connection, and ensuring a good quality of service for the second VPN connection.
 7. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium that stores instructions which when executed by one or more processors, cause said processors to perform the following operations, comprising: transmitting a first virtual private network (VPN) route configuration to a client device, the first VPN route configuration specifying a first VPN route to a first proxy server of a plurality of proxy servers of a cloud-based proxy service for establishing a first VPN connection between the client device and the first proxy server; collecting network intelligence metrics from requests that are fulfilled by the plurality of proxy servers; determining a second VPN route configuration based on the collected network intelligence metrics, wherein the second VPN route configuration specifies a second VPN route to a second proxy server of the plurality of proxy servers, wherein the second VPN route is an optimized VPN route as compared to the first VPN route; and transmitting the second VPN route configuration to the client device for establishing a second VPN connection between the client device and the second proxy server.
 8. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein collecting the network intelligence metrics includes active or passive monitoring of remote destinations including the plurality of proxy servers and a plurality of origin servers to measure latency, packet loss, and/or congestion.
 9. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein determining the second VPN route configuration is further based on one or more network properties including cost, reliability, current utilization, and/or predicted utilization.
 10. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the second VPN route is determined based at least in part on one or more characteristics of a VPN protocol that is used to establish the second VPN connection.
 11. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the second VPN route satisfies traffic optimization criteria for at least one traffic flow forwarded through the second VPN connection.
 12. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the traffic optimization criteria includes at least one of obtaining low latency for requests of the at least one traffic flow, obtaining high reliability of traffic forwarded through the second VPN connection, ensuring a low cost of the second VPN connection, and ensuring a good quality of service for the second VPN connection.
 13. An apparatus, comprising: one or more processors; and a non-transitory computer readable storage medium that stores code, which when executed by the one or more processors causes the apparatus to perform the following operations: transmit a first virtual private network (VPN) route configuration to a client device, the first VPN route configuration specifying a first VPN route to a first proxy server of a plurality of proxy servers of a cloud-based proxy service for establishing a first VPN connection between the client device and the first proxy server; collect network intelligence metrics from requests that are fulfilled by the plurality of proxy servers; determine a second VPN route configuration based on the collected network intelligence metrics, wherein the second VPN route configuration specifies a second VPN route to a second proxy server of the plurality of proxy servers, wherein the second VPN route is an optimized VPN route as compared to the first VPN route; and transmit the second VPN route configuration to the client device for establishing a second VPN connection between the client device and the second proxy server.
 14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein collecting the network intelligence metrics includes active or passive monitoring of remote destinations including the plurality of proxy servers and a plurality of origin servers to measure latency, packet loss, and/or congestion.
 15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein determining the second VPN route configuration is further based on one or more network properties including cost, reliability, current utilization, and/or predicted utilization.
 16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the second VPN route is determined based at least in part on one or more characteristics of a VPN protocol that is used to establish the second VPN connection.
 17. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the second VPN route satisfies traffic optimization criteria for at least one traffic flow forwarded through the second VPN connection.
 18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the traffic optimization criteria includes at least one of obtaining low latency for requests of the at least one traffic flow, obtaining high reliability of traffic forwarded through the second VPN connection, ensuring a low cost of the second VPN connection, and ensuring a good quality of service for the second VPN connection. 